MLK Day 2014

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Wednesday, November 13, 2013

@GAtoCollege

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Teachers Tell All: An Introduction


 By Julia P. '15
(the first post of her column)

Challenge GA, the newest house competition, encourages innovative thinking.  The challenge: answer “the question”.  The infamous inquiry was revealed during morning meeting: How can we make our new house a home? Answers to this “big reveal” are already in place and contribute to the homey atmosphere of GA.  Home is a place where families share stories. These stories define a family and teach morals through both good and bad experiences  One of the best community aspects of GA is the tradition of teachers sharing stories about our school or their own lives with their students.
These timeless stories have been passed down through generations however, like many oral histories, they risk being lost.  This column seeks to memorialize this side of GA history for current and future GA students.  When McVeigh tells his class the cookie story, students tell the story to kids from the other section, who will then tell their friends and so on.  This is the oral tradition: shared experiences passed down by word of mouth.  It parallels a family dynamic, relatives sharing their childhood experiences or letting kids in on adult conversations.  When teachers recount certain stories, it is a way of acceptance into the family, or a form of recognition and initiation into the GA community. 
This column will collect the many stories of GA’s past that have contributed to GA’s community feel over time.  Featuring a new story shared by a teacher every week, this column will allow students to relate stories in their lives with the experiences of students of the past.  Everybody knows about the time when Mr. Garvan was handcuffed to a chair during morning meeting or when Mr. McVeigh held a lower school student out the window.  The column will also include some of Mr. Caum’s stories about combat in Vietnam, students getting caught in the old fire escape outside Mr. Eastlake’s office, and students partying under the bridge calling it “beach front real-estate”.   If any of these are unfamiliar, they won’t be for long…. so stay tuned.